Paleobiology Commons^™

Building Detailed And Accurate Whole-Plant Concepts: A Morphometrics-Informed Reconstruction Of A Zosterophyll From The Lower Devonian Of Wyoming, Samar R. El-Abdallah

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The fragmentary state of plant fossils and the modular organization of plants make whole-plant reconstructions of fossil species desirable and feasible. Such reconstructions are key for integrating fossil species in systematic studies. The ca. 410 Ma Beartooth Butte Formation of Wyoming (USA) hosts the only rich Early Devonian plant assemblages in western North America, which fills a major gap in the phytogeography of this interval. I construct a whole-plant concept for a new zosterophyll from the Beartooth Butte Formation based on a detailed morphometric study. More than 600 fragments of the new zosterophyll were observed and 200 of those were …

Celestial Bodies, Rebecca L. Rand, Mark Popinchalk

Capstones

Most of us will never come close to touching space. But space touches us every day. On Celestial Bodies, journalist Rebecca Rand and astronomer Mark Popinchalk explore the ways outer space interacts with life on earth.

In Episode 1, hosts Rebecca Rand and Mark Popinchalk explore how, for millions of years, trees have been recording celestial events in space. Within the rings of their trunks, trees store radiation from solar flares, supernovae, and changes in the earth’s magnetic field. The hosts talk to Dr. Ben Pope to learn more about what we can discover by looking at radioactive molecules …

Palynology And Paleoclimatology Of The Chicxulub Impact Crater In The Early Paleogene, Vann Smith

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

At the end of the Cretaceous Period, a large bolide impacted the Earth and formed the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. In 2016, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 Site M0077 drilled into the buried peak ring of the crater, recovering a marine Paleocene to early Eocene post-impact section deposited on top of the impact breccia. Palynological analysis of 195 samples from the post-impact section has yielded the first pre-Holocene vegetational record from inside the Chicxulub impact crater and the first palynological record of the recovery of life following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction from inside the …

Exploring The Origins Of Secondary Growth – Two Lower Devonian (Emsian) Euphyllophytes From Gaspé, Canada, And Their Implications For The Evolution Of Secondary Growth, Kelly C. Pfeiler

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Secondary growth from a vascular cambium has a deep fossil record among euphyllophytes, with the earliest occurrence dated to 407 Ma. To date, Armoricaphyton and Franhueberia represent the only instances of secondary growth formally documented in the Early Devonian. Secondary growth diversified rapidly and was present in all major euphyllophyte lineages by the Middle Devonian. Here, I describe two new Early Devonian euphyllophytes exhibiting secondary growth, from the Emsian (c. 400-395 Ma) Battery Point Formation (Québec, Canada): Gmujij tetraxylopteroides gen. et sp. nov. and Perplexa praestigians gen et sp. nov. Both these plants possess mesarch actinosteles with Psilophyton-type …

H.B. Bozeman Collection, University Archives And Special Collections, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University

Manuscript Finding Aids

Specimen of petrified palm wood found by Estes B. Bozeman in 1962-63 on the southeast flank of the Sikes Salt Dome, Winn Parish, Louisiana. Palm trees grew in the Winn Parish area 30-40 million years ago during the Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era.

Belowground Rhizomes In Paleosols: The Hidden Half Of An Early Devonian Vascular Plant, Jinzhuang Xue, Zhenzhen Deng, Pu Huang, Kangjun Huang, Michael J. Benton, Ying Cui

Dartmouth Scholarship

The colonization of terrestrial environments by rooted vascular plants had far-reaching impacts on the Earth system. However, the belowground structures of early vascular plants are rarely documented, and thus the plant−soil interactions in early terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood. Here we report the earliest rooted paleosols (fossil soils) in Asia from Early Devonian deposits of Yunnan, China. Plant traces are extensive within the soil and occur as complex network-like structures, which are interpreted as representing long-lived, belowground rhizomes of the basal lycopsid Drepanophycus. The rhizomes produced large clones and helped the plant survive frequent sediment burial in well-drained soils …

Rapid Fluctuations In Mid-Latitude Siliceous Plankton Production During The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (Odp Site 1051, Western North Atlantic), Jakub Witkowski, Steven M. Bohaty, Kirsty M. Edgar, David M. Harwood

ANDRILL Research and Publications

The Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO; ~ 40 million years ago [Ma]) is one of the most prominent transient global warming events in the Paleogene. Although the event is well documented in geochemical and isotopic proxy records at many locations, the marine biotic response to the MECO remains poorly constrained. We present new high-resolution, quantitative records of siliceous microplankton assemblages from the MECO interval of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1051 in the subtropical western North Atlantic Ocean, which are interpreted in the context of published foraminiferal and bulk carbonate stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) records. …

A History Of Place: Using Phytolith Analysis To Discern Holocene Vegetation Change On Sanak Island, Western Gulf Of Alaska, Cricket C. Wilbur

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigated a terrestrial climate proxy, phytoliths, as a complimentary approach to documenting the dynamics of present and past vegetation on Sanak Island, the largest island in a small island group in the eastern Aleutian archipelago, and as a new basis by which to interpret Holocene environmental variability in Alaska. A phytolith reference collection was established from 59 selected plant species of maritime tundra belonging to 27 families. The grass species and a sedge species produced abundant phytolith forms whereas the majority of dicotyledons in this study were trace producers of phytoliths. A paleoenvironmental reconstruction from fossil phytoliths recovered …

Environmental And Botanical Controls On Peatification - A Comparative Study Of Two New Zealand Restiad Bogs Using Py-Gc/Ms, Petrography And Fungal Analysis, Tomasz K. Kuder, Michael A. Kruge, J C. Shearer, S L. Miller

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study shows that chemical properties of two restiad species, Empodisma minus and Sporadanthus traversii, may contribute to their success as peat-formers in a climate of the North Island of New Zealand which is not conducive to raised mire development. Unlike Sphagnum, the equivalent northern hemisphere peat-former, restiads possess lignin in their tissues. In addition, the presence of non-lignin polyphenols (including tannins and phenolic acids) in restiads may be an important factor in peat formation due to the allelopathic decay retardation. Patterns of degradation of plant biopolymers have been examined and the pathway of degradation of monocotyledons (loss …

Tertiary Coniferous Woods Of Western North America, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Almost four decades have elapsed since Platen (1908), the German paleobotanist, published his report upon the fossil woods of the western United States. Since then no over-all treatment of these materials has been attempted. although Platen overlooked the Pacific Northwest with its abundance of Tertiary petrified woods. The purpose of this paper is to bring knowledge of the western coniferous woods of the Tertiary up to date. In this effort the writer recognizes that much of this information has been accumulated incidentally in the study of the Russell Petrified Forest series of central Washington, and that it is not as …

Nyssa Woods Of The Pacific-Northwest Tertiary, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The nyssa gums are one of the modern genera of trees most certainly present among the petrified woods and forests of the Pacific Northwest. Almost every collection from the mid-Tertiary of this region contains a few specimens of typical tupelo or sour gum. These are fine-grained woods which to the unaided eye may be mistaken for conifers.

Ancient Maples Of The Central Washington Region, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

When I began work on the petrified logs of the general Vantage area some 13 years ago, it became apparent at once that maple-like woods are commonplace in the main (Vantage) raft forest and slightly less abundant in two rooted units of the Yakima Canyon. So widely do these woods range throughout the structural variations found in modern maples that little success has attended the efforts to assign them to nominal species. The extremes can readily be established but few hints exist as to the boundaries between them.

Two Newly Discovered Conifers, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Two genera of coniferous wood, apparently not listed among the Tertiary woods of the western states, have been recognized in the Percy Train collections from Rainbow Ridge, northwestern Nevada. These two, Tsuga (hemlock) and Chamaecyparis (cedar) bring up to 14 the genera of coniferous wood more or less certainly identified from the period and area in question.

Status Of Tertiary Woods Of The Western States Representing The Juglandaceae, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

For many years there has been uncertainty concerning the generic status of some fossil leaves belonging without question to the walnut family as a whole. A review of the woods of Juglandaceae as they have appeared in Tertiary horizons of the western states has suggested which genera are present, and in what proportions their leaves (or other remains) might be expected to appear.

Spruce In The Western Miocene, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

One of the real surprises in store for us as we began to section specimens of petrified wood from the Vantage and certain other horizons in Central Washington, was the prevalence of a spruce type hardly hinted at in the leaf lists as published for the various sediments of Yakima time (upper miocene?).

Exotic Ancient Forests Of Washington, George F. Beck

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The greatest fossil forest in the world is located within easy driving distance of the University of Washington campus in the State of Washington, near the Columbia River, east of the city of Ellensburg. Mr. George F. Beck, a member of the faculty of the Ellensburg State Normal School, and a former graduate student of the College of Forestry of the University of Washington, discovered this forest, which is now known as the Ginkgo Forest State Park. Aside from its importance from a scientific point of view, this "petrified forest," which contains a greater variety of species than any other …